Medical Elective: A tale of two surgeries Mohammed Abdelaziz This was a unique opportunity. An entire 7 weeks had been provided for us to experience medicine as we pleased. Rarely again would we be able to have such freedom with our time for such a prolonged period. As such I decided to split my time both home and abroad with one placement in Thoracic Surgery, and the other in Cardiac Surgery. Two sides of the same coin, with very different adventures. My first placement began at the University Hospital South Manchester (UHSM) here in the UK, beginning within the thoracic surgery department. On the day of arrival, my consultant Mr Krysiak devoted an entire hour showing me around, introducing me to different colleagues, and setting me up with the cardiothoracic transplant retrieval team (more on that later). My initial thought was that my experience would be somewhat limited, with me having the occasional opportunity to scrub in, but primarily being an observer. How wrong one could be. From day one they had me running at 100mph, assisting in lobectomies, pneumonectomies and wedge resections. They made me feel an integral part of the team, giving me more responsibilities in the theatre than I was accustomed to, eventually culminating in me performing a thoracotomy (with heavy assistance of course). This was an almost daily event, with each day starting with a fully engaging and educating ward round (a rare occurrence usually...) and continuing with a full theatre list. Whilst there, I was also able to join the transplant retrieval team as they whipped across the country on their call-outs. I joined them going to Leeds, were I also assisted the multivisceral retrieval team, as well as on a private plane to the Royal London Hospital. Given the limited word-count available to me, I find it hard to stress how much of an enlightening experience this was. It was a true privilege to be involved in the donor giving their final gift to someone they never met. The camaraderie of the team was palpable, and the view of all the organs, provided by having entirely opened thoracic and abdominal cavities, made for a truly unique anatomy lesson. Once again, I was in there, scrubbed, and helping dissect away. Finally, I was lucky enough to be at the hospital during one of the region's cadaveric courses. For those unaware, it involves bringing freshly frozen cadavers over from the US for surgical trainees to practice surgical procedures in a safe and supportive environment. Given that my consultant was one of the organisers, I was able to piggy-back for a free admission. The day arrived, and there were no other cardiothoracic trainees, so I was in the unique situation of having an almost entire cadaver to myself (note that each of these cadavers can cost in the region of $10,000). Under the guidance of my consultant and registrar, we bounded through procedure after procedure, with each subsequent one highlighting how fortunate a situation I was in. Mohammed Abdelaziz
Sorely sad to reach the end of my placement, I was off to Kuala Lumpur to start my next placement at the Institut Jantung Negara (National Heart Institute). Buoyed by UHSM, I was ready to engage at full speed again, however one should not set their standards too high too early. My assigned cardiac surgeon cared little for my arrival and refused to engage me in theatre in any meaningful way. Cold, distant and almost disdainful of my presence. What's more, students at the hospital were prohibited from scrubbing in (regardless of experience), and so I was exiled to the corner of the quiet and outlandishly cold room. Bypass surgery after bypass, the days were getting monotonous. Alas! I decided to abandon my 'team' and headed over to the paediatric cardiac team at the other end of the hospital. Warm, engaging & friendly, the team took me under their tutelage as though I was an abandoned calf. What's more, the variety of procedures far exceed that of their uptight predecessor. The only thing tainting the experience was the maintained memorandum outlawing students from scrubbing in. Indeed, one does not travel halfway across the world to linger in one city the entire time. I used this chance to tour the surrounding region in my multiple (self-assigned) three-day weekends to Thailand, Singapore, Langkawi, and my good friend in Hong Kong. The concentrated experiences of different cultures, cuisines and languages was indeed an incredible experience that I would wholeheartedly recommend. Overall the elective experience I had was truly a unique opportunity to experience advanced modern surgery in two very different countries and healthcare systems. The people I met (and food I ate) were exceptional and I thank Selwyn's Medical Elective and Travel Funds for helping me to organise and experience such a fortuitous medical elective.
Mohammed Abdelaziz
Mohammed Abdelaziz
Mohammed Abdelaziz